To boldly go where no man has gone before

Abstract

I n 1,400 a.C., the Babylonians created a time measuring instrument called clepsydra, consisting of two containers with water at different levels (the top one filled with water and the low one empty), with marks indicating the elapsed time. This instrument is considered one of the first "robotic" equipment in history In medicine, a robot was first used in 1985, when PUMA 560 was used during a brain biopsy to guide the needle. In 1988, the PROBOT, developed at Imperial College London, was used to perform a prostate operation. In 1992, ROBODOC, by the company named Integrated Surgical Systems, accurately carved fittings in a femur during an operation to install a hip prosthesis 2 .